


A King of Heroes

by stormyheavens



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: 1-A collectively gets in trouble, Aizawa and All Might eventually accept fatherhood, Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, Class Bonding, Dungeons & Djinn, Ensemble Cast, Training from Hell, and gets everyone else in trouble too, chapter titles get progressively worse, everyone takes a level in badass, never trust a genie in the bottle, or a djinn in this case, post-kamino
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-11-17 10:09:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11273328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stormyheavens/pseuds/stormyheavens
Summary: After a freak accident drops majority of class 1-A in the middle of a dungeon, the group is faced with a choice: either they clear it, or die. But all is not as it seems, and they're soon caught in a power-struggle involving much more than a small magician's country. And 1-A's stakes in the conflict may just be higher than anyone's.





	1. Monoma Guesses Right, For Once

**Author's Note:**

> Yo! Welcome to the first Magi/BNHA crossover on this site! Few things to get off my chest, before we start. I love, love, LOVE Boku no Hero Academia. All the characters, the story, the humor... I don't think I've ever fallen in love with a series this quickly.
> 
> On the other hand, even with my... less than enthusiastic opinion of Magi lately, the thought of this crossover wouldn't leave me alone. Like! Imagine, guys! Dungeons! Huge, scary, deadly! Full of shiny treasure. Space and time bending. Perfect place for some class bonding, right? Haha, well no, Aizawa would probably strangle me with that scarf of his if he heard me, but bleeeh. Supernatural dungeons full of deadly monsters and a bunch of hyperactive heroes-in-training? Recipe for a disaster, right there. Hopefully a fun one.
> 
> So anyway, ideas showed up, fingers typed, and this happened. This chapter is mainly just setting things up. Next chapter, we dive right into the action. So! Any questions, critics, confusions, hit me up! Think I got a character wrong? Let me know! Heaven knows I've only been in both of these fandoms for a relatively short time and I'm prone to messing up.
> 
> Running the risk I might be a bit redundant, still wanna point out: BNHA timeline, this takes place after Kamino, but before Provisional Licence arc. Magi: info is not relevant yet, but let's just say that Magnostadt arc is going to change very, very much.
> 
> Sorry for the long notes. Not happening again. Let's go! Plus ultra!

There were many things first year, class A of the prestigious Yuuei Academy was famous for. Made up of some of Japan's most brilliant young minds striving to become the greatest heroes the world had ever seen, shaking up the playing field was only natural. But this generation might've taken it a little too far. Tackling a villain invasion head on, twice? Check. Dominating the sports festival? You bet. Indirectly leading straight to All Might's early retirement? Err, kind of. But we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here. The point was, Class 1-A was well known for getting into all sorts of trouble, in school and out.

So. When an explosion worse than 8-degree magnitude earthquake rocked the entire Yuuei campus, it wasn't that big of a surprise to find it coming from 1-A classroom.

"Calm down, it's just Bakugou throwing a tantrum again," Monoma said, in a half-hearted attempt to wiggle himself free from underneath Tetsutetsu's elbow currently digging deep into his lower back. Wasted effort, considering his bigger and stronger classmate was too busy wrestling with a squishy chair to notice. Thus, making doubly sure Monoma would get stuck with a nice batch of ugly purple bruises for the rest of month. "Would you keep still, for a second?"

"HUH!?" The outraged, are-you-asking-for-a-fight growl died down when Tetsutetsu realized the floor couldn't possibly be quite  _that_  squishy. "Er, Monoma? What the hell are you doing down there?"

"Fighting asphyxiation,  _duh_. Get off."

Ironing his body, Tetsutetsu pushed the chair half across the room, before helping his softer friend up on his feet. Then both froze, staring at the utter mess their classroom had become. Most of the notebooks, pens and assorted supplies had ended up all over the floor, if not crushed under the weight of wrong-side-up desks and spinning chairs. One of the light bulbs had come off and shattered into millions of glassy pieces right at the teacher's desk. Three of the hinges holding the whiteboard in place had snapped, leaving the surface far off-center, with the last hinge only barely holding out.

Kendou stood up, dusting off her skirt, and sweeping a look from one side of the room to another. Most of their classmates began to rise as well. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yep."

"All good!"

"Here too."

"What the hell was that? Didn't know that Bakugou kid could pull off explosions like this. That's just crazy unfair."

 _And that's putting it lightly._ Monoma picked up his phone from the ground, grimacing at the broken screen. Turned after Kendou when the girl rushed past him, to perch on the window. "Whoa! Looks like they felt it all the way down there, too! Are you sure this was just Bakugou going all explosion gung-ho? It's a little much, even for him."

Glancing back towards his cracked screen, Monoma rolled his eyes. "As if  _anything_  is too much for an idiot like him. Explode this, explode that, explode everything! Him and the rest of the class A guys. Can't go a week without getting on the front page for  _something_ —"

Kendo sighed, unimpressed. "Your pettiness is showing. Are you sure you're not the only one taking this inter-class rivalry a little too seriously?"

"Too seriously?" Monoma repeated, scandalized.

But the classroom door slammed open, cutting off whatever other rant he'd been intending to start. Another one of the hinges cracked, and they collapsed down with a deafening crash, raising another cloud of dust. Still in the doorway, hand scratching under the bandanna, usually abrasive Awase winced. "Crap." Quickly turned back towards the rest of the shaken classroom. "Anyway. Teachers just went through, it's definitely 1-A. Said something about this being the time to try rescue maneuvers, too, but I wasn't really listening."

Kendou's eyebrows shot up. "You do know somebody could be hurt out there, right?"

Awase shrugged. "It's 1-A. Do you really want to know what they got themselves into this time?"

Monoma definitely didn't. But he had a feeling that wouldn't matter, either way. Giant cracks in concrete couldn't be hidden easily, not even with Cementoss-sensei going all out with his efforts.

Shock value and a giant crack in the wall nobody could truly explain aside, Yuuei didn't really suffer that extensive property damage from the explosion. All the west wing windows shattered from the shockwave. A lot of desks got smashed around. But considering the usual damages when powerful Quirks lost all control, this would've barely ranked mild degree damage. If not for the fact that the explosion itself had been a total freak accident.

First ones heading to the scene, Present Mic and Ectoplasm had been just about ready crack a set of jokes (good,  _funny_ jokes) on Aizawa's tab, what with the man owing them drinks and all. Mic had been dead sure Midoriya and Bakugou wouldn't last a week before getting into a fight, much to Aizawa's claims to the contrary. But most of those jokes floated right out of his mind when, in the hallway leading up to the 1-A classroom, they found the class president. With a single finger stuck out, he looked like a disapproving grandmother just waiting to scold her unruly grandchildren. Ruining the picture, though, he had yet to pick his jaw off the ground.

"Class rep? Oooiii, class rep!" Present Mic tried waving a hand in front of the boy's unblinking eyes, wrecking his brain for the name. "Iida, right? Oi, oi, kid, what happened here? Whole thing felt like somebody dropped a bomb on this place. Your boys getting in trouble again?"

Valiant defense of his classmate's misbehavior wasn't something Iida often did, most the teachers had learned that by now. But for that jab to be met with nothing more than utter silence, Mic had to admit was more than a little unnerving.

"Iida?" he tried again.

"T-t-there—" the boy said, muscles of his jaw working like some rusty old piece of metal. Trembling finger pointed towards the door frame. "They were right there."

"Huuuuh? You're gonna have to be a little more precise, kid, I have no idea what you're trying to say."

Clearly not taught by previous experience, Iida seemed to have even  _more_  trouble getting the words out the second time. "T-they're gone. All of them. All gone."

"Sheeeesh, what is that supposed to mean? Gone? I thought—"

"Mic?" Ectoplasm cut in from the classroom door, voice as serious as it had been in the wake of their first meeting concerning All Might's premature retirement, which at this point could only be a bad sign. "Drop it. The boy is right. The entire class is… gone."

Mic took a moment to process that notion. And then, in typical Mic fashion, he screamed. "WHAAAAAAAT?!"

* * *

In spite of certain grievances some might've had with him, Monoma's spiteful prediction had been proven correct in less than two hours. By 10AM on that sunny and warm September morning, mysterious disappearance of class 1-A of the highly esteemed Yuuei Hero Academy had ended up overtaking the homepages of all the news boards in Japan and wider, had sprung several hundred forum discussions and as many conspiracy theories, many of which had gone as far as to link the event with the recent Kamino incident and the League of Villains rising.

Within minutes of the mysterious explosion, Principal Nedzu had assembled a team of highly competent and experienced investigators to shed light on the incident which was bound to put another gaping hole in Yuuei's already thoroughly shredded public image. But no amount of knowledge, effort and resources seemed to find any hint of what sort of mishap had befallen the hapless students.

After weeks and weeks of thorough research, countless experiments, and lack of any substantial clues that could shed light on what happened that morning, it was only a matter of time before somebody proposed a theory, a hypothesis that was so far out there, that it could only ever be possible in fiction.

"What if it was a dimensional portal of some kind?"

It was absurd. Beyond all reason. According to some, not humanly possible. But Quirks that tended to shape reality in ways nobody could've imagined before, and only time would show whether the nature of a Quirk user warranted condemnation, or support. Besides, after the investigation had led them in blind, endless circles for an unreasonable amount of time, it would be too presumptuous to eliminate such a concept from the realm of possibility. Who was to say a poor unfortunate soul hadn't somehow ended up with a Quirk that could warp dimensions? There were certainly more mind-boggling abilities out there; All For One, however terrifying, merely scratching the surface.

Principal Nedzu wasn't the type to dismiss such a development, regardless of how controversial it might've seemed. And fortunately, same went for the people working with him.

Less fortunately, his investigators weren't going to make much progress on proving their hypothesis, let alone fixing the issue, not with the school under unhealthy amount of public pressure and scrutiny that would only get worse with time, All Might's withdrawal from Hero business that would give way to a number of crimes rising, and the League of Villains lying in wait. Worse, with no evidence, how could they even convince themselves of such a ridiculous story, let alone anyone else? Happens, when the powers that quite literally kidnapped your students come from another world altogether. But Principal Nedzu will be pondering that thought soon enough. He's not a super intelligent rodent for no reason, after all.

As for the class 1-A? Well.

What started out as a typical Tuesday morning was going to go off the rails faster than any one of them could've predicted, and only the best would rise to the top. but before we tackle that, there is one more thing left to address. Whether through a deeply ingrained sixth sense for all things class 1-A related or pure dumb luck, Monoma got one more thing right.

It was all Bakugou's fault.

And, for better or worse, it'll be a long while before anyone figures that out. Bakugou Katsuki included.


	2. Swim, Deku! Swim!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Deku runs into ogres, Bakugou into frogs and Tsuyu is the real MVP of the chapter. There's no way this can possibly end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I wanted to get to the crux of things fast and here we are? Part of me wishes I'd polished this a little more, but I think it works as it should. Hope so. Ah well. Class 1-A shenanigans ensue!

There were, Midoriya Izuku decided, better things in life than falling head-first into ice-cold water.

Actually, there were better things in life than falling, period.

Saltwater filled his mouth, his nose, his ears and stung his eyes. Head would've certainly bumped into the bottom had something not caught him at the last possible second. Dropped him gently on firm ground half a moment later. Even through blurred vision, he still recognized long, slick tongue retracting, and Tsuyu, clinging to the rock wall the way only she would.

"That was close, Midoriya-chan."

"Yeah." Fingers inspected his forehead, until they ran into a painful bump. Midoriya winced. That was going to bruise for a while, he could tell. Tsuyu must've caught him last moment before he'd inadvertently ended up with a concussion. "Thanks a lot, Tsuyu-chan. You really saved me back there." And boy, had she saved him. The cave was dark and his eyes still stung from the salt, so he couldn't really see much, but what he could see gave him the creeps. Giant rocks sticking out of the deceptively deep water, everywhere around them. Most of them sharp and pointy. If he'd actually hit his head on one of those, concussion would've been the least of his worries.

"You're welcome,  _ribbit_." Tsuyu joined him on the isolated rock, inspecting their surroundings with equal amount of concern as Midoriya himself felt. Then looked his way. "Are your eyes all right? You probably shouldn't do that."

Midoriya froze. All the lectures from his mom on how rubbing his eyes would only make the problem worse slapped him at once and he pried his hands away, with much willpower. "You're right. Sorry. It's just the salt, it burns…" Blinked the still gathering tears away, and took in their surroundings one more time. "Um, do you know where we are? One moment, Kacchan was yelling and exploding stuff, next I know, I'm falling…" He trailed off, Tsuyu's shake of head enough an answer in itself.

"I was hoping you'd have an idea," she said. "I don't remember moving from my chair." Tilted her head when she noticed him tense. "What's wrong, Midoriya-chan?"

He shook his head, trying to listen. Soft waves hitting against solid wall, kind of like somebody was trying to walk through the water in the distance. Which, all things considered, shouldn't have surprised him. If he and Tsuyu had ended up here, then what was to say the others hadn't? But even squinting, he could barely tell one rock apart from another. He wasn't even sure where the light was coming from, but there was just enough of it so he could see his immediate surroundings.

Water. Rocks. More water and rocks. Rocks sticking out of the water, rocks hanging from the ceiling. Everywhere he looked it reminded him of those caves he'd seen in movies or video games, but there was no easily discerning exit, let alone an entrance. The ceiling itself, though shrouded in darkness was most certainly  _there_ , which brought up the question of where exactly he'd fallen from. He had a feeling that, if he ever found out, he wasn't going to like the answer. Further on his left, a wall high up. Come to think of it, Tsuyu had been clinging to it until a short time ago. And further ahead—

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Beside him, Tsuyu tensed. "What — what is that?"

Midoriya's finger trembled as he pointed. An abomination, a monster, a creature of darkness, coming after them—

Tsuyu's voice shot an octave higher. "Midoriya-chan, isn't that—"

A monstrous giant, looking like some sort of an ugly ogre taken straight out of a fantasy RPG. With only dirty rags covering its crotch area and a deadly looking club hanging over it's shoulder. Beady yellow eyes focused down, sharp and deadly claws almost as long as Midoriya's fingers, reaching for something at its feet —  _Jirou!_

"Wait, Midoriya—"

Too late. By the time the warning in Tsuyu's voice reached him, he was already in Full Cowl. Jirou was right there, at the monster's feet.  _Unconscious._ There was no time to think. He aimed his feet towards the bulky arm about as muscled as All Might's.  _But that's fine! All Might is All Might, and this is just a monster! As long as I catch it off guard, even if it's stronger than it looks, even with five percent of power, I can still—_  Crap! He wasn't gonna make it!

"Tsuyu!"

Time seemed to crawl to a stop altogether. Tsuyu's tongue, wrapping around Jirou, in slow motion. Pulling her unconscious body away, milliseconds before the deadly claws closed around empty air. Then the moment passed, and the beady eyes were on Midoriya, the heavy looking club heading straight towards him. Tsuyu pulled him out at the last second, piece of his tattered pants hanging off of the metal spike that only barely missed its mark.

Tsuyu gently dropped him on the rock beside her.

"T-t-thanks. Again."

"Sometimes I really wonder what goes through your head.  _Ribbit_."

Midoriya did too. Those claws looked scary, the club even scarier, and he didn't really want to find out what would've happened if that thing had hit him. "Sorry," he hurried to explain. "I just thought, if I could get a punch in—"

"That's not what I mean. Look, Midoriya-chan."

Midoriya blinked, startled, but he looked. And what he saw sent ice coursing through his veins.

Where there had been one giant ogre monster before, now it looked like dozens of them had gathered, monstrous eyes glowing with a certain hunger that made his hairs stand on end. An army of starving monsters, teeth the length of his palm and ugly drool dripping everywhere. And they were coming right at them. Midoriya idly wondered if the whole running to school business had just been a lull into a freakish nightmare full of eldritch abominations. Did he even get out of bed this morning? Man, he knew letting Kaminari talk him into watching that scary movie before bed had been a bad idea.

"Eeeeep, what do we do? Should we run? Or fight? But those clubs are scary. Those things have a long reach anyway and the clubs just make it longer. Plus, it's like they're floating on water, and they're completely silent when they move and  _look_  at those teeth!"

"We'd best make our way out of here," Tsuyu noted.

"Yeah!" Midoriya agreed with all his heart. But  _where_ , he wanted to ask. There were at least a dozen of monsters there, possibly more, and simply by the nature of their appearance, they had the huge advantage of knowing this cave. The rocks on the bottom made doubly sure that picking that route would be even riskier than fighting those things head on - and they had no visible way out.  _Think, think,_ think _._ _There's gotta be a way to get through this. They're huge, and they're strong, but they stay away from the water and rocks and_ —

Ripples. Right in front of the monster that had tried to get Jirou. Soft, at first, but followed by bubbles. And then something burst out of the water, punching the monster with enough strength to knock over several of its peers like bowling pins. The entirety of the mob came to a stop in that moment, trying to make sense of the situation. And, waist-deep in the water, breathing hard with a fist raised high in the air, rock-solid muscles standing out against the drenched school uniform—

"Kirishima!" Midoriya yelled, voice melting with a mix of surprise and relief.

The student in question turned, startled, squinting through the strands of wet hair. "Eh? Midoriya?! Tsuyu?! What the heck? Didn't know you guys were here too!"

"Forget that! Those things are still coming! Let's go!"

But instead of joining them, fist slammed into a hardened palm, the rest of Kirishima's body hardening a moment later. "Hell no! Those things got one on me, but no way am I letting them get away with it! Heck, they tried to eat Jirou! Wait! Is she okay?!"

"I have her right here," Tsuyu said.

"Ah, good! I was worried for a moment there!" Something of a menacing smile spread on Kirishima's face. "You coming, Midoriya?! We're gonna bust these things until they learn not to mess with us!"

If possible, last thing Midoriya wanted was picking a fight with half a dozen disfigured monsters. But the rest of his classmates could be anywhere in this place, and if Jirou's state was any indication, down for the count. And those monsters looked really,  _really_  hungry.

"Yeah!" he yelled, mid-Full Cowl. "Tsuyu-chan, get Jirou-san out of here! See if you can find anyone else here! Kirishima and I—" Both feet slammed right into the disfigured monster's face, and Midoriya smiled. "We'll take care of this!" Then he kicked off it, twisting through the air before landing right in the water. Ignoring the shudders the sudden cold sent along his spine, he straightened, fists out, back-to-back to Kirishima. His fiery-head classmate grinned.

"Hell yeah! You're going down! Ya hear me, ugly face?!"

Back on the rock, Tsuyu shook her head, exasperated. "Be careful,  _ribbit_." Then she grabbed Jirou, and jumped.

"Got it!" Midoriya swallowed thickly. "So, um. Any ideas?"

"Uh." Kirishima put his guard up, teeth clenching. "Um, not really. See those claws?"

Midoriya shuddered. Long and sharp and pointy, and had almost tore right into Jirou's body, there was no way he wouldn't.

"Yeah. Well, I saw one of those rip through rock like it was paper," Kirishima continued. "Teeth, too. If I didn't get out of the way, I think they would've gotten right through me, even with my hardening. Oh, and I dunno how, but they're hovering over the water. I tried to pull one of them under with me, but it's like there's some kind of a barrier that prevents them from touching it."

"Err, right! Remind me to thank Tsuyu-chan for getting me out of there, again," Midoriya chirped. Then froze, eyes widening as he spun to stare at his classmate. "Wait. How long have you been fighting them, Kirishima!?"

His classmate shot him an odd look, before glancing back towards the monsters, lost in thought. "Dunno. Ten, fifteen minutes? They didn't pay much attention to me at first, but then Jirou fell out of nowhere and…" he shook his head. "Anyway, safe to say, it's Jirou they're after. And I don't think they'll mind going right through us if that's what it takes. Can't let them get anywhere near her, right, Midoriya?!"

"Right!" Speaking off, the monster ogres seemed less inclined to attack now that Jirou was no longer in sight. Or they might've just been fighting  _smarter_. Which meant they needed a plan, a strategy of some sort to get out of this place. He needed to think, think,  _think_ — "Wait. You said there's a barrier keeping them away from the water?"

Kirishima nodded.

"It's just a guess, but it could be they don't like water much. Or it could be that it  _weakens_ them."

"Well… That's  _one_  theory I wouldn't mind testing out." Something of a smirk formed on Kirishima's face. "Think you and I can make a wave big enough to drown those crazy bastards?"

Midoriya grit his teeth. Clenched his fists, and dropped into a stance. "One way to find out. Let's go!"

* * *

Bakugou Katsuki had certainly had better days. Between getting barely  _any_  sleep, thanks to some assholes being hungry at 3 in the morning, to an argument sparking several hours before normal waking up hours over the missing box of cereals, he would've been better off staying up all night to count stars or some shit.

It only got worse from there.

Rubbing the ache from between his eyes, he scowled. The buzzing headache irritated him slightly more than his drenched school uniform. Did that half-and-half bastard go freezing the entire place?  _Ugh_. But  _that_  sure as hell didn't seem to be the case. First, half-and-half bastard was nowhere in sight. Second, he was definitely no longer in the school building, let alone the dorm common area.

Bakugou pushed himself up, ignoring the trembling in his limbs.  _Move, damn it. Move!_  Bad idea, because he ended up falling right back down on his ass, entire body feeling almost as bad as if he'd gone up against All Might in full throttle again, except this time there were no weights to obstruct his teacher's perfect. As if having one side of his uniform completely and utterly wet wasn't enough.  _What the fuck just happened?_

Memories flashed in his mind, sort of like a fast-forward video, cutting through the images at breakneck speeds, only making him dizzier in the process. He remembered the classroom, and that idiot Kirishima edging him on about something again, and Deku being annoying as usual. Then  _somebody_  called out to him — stupid fuckmunch, if he wanted a fight, why the hell would he hide — and next thing he knew, there was  _something_  on the wall. Something black, and weird, and it was  _crawling towards him_.

Then, black. All black.

Bakugou remembered the creepy,  _crawly_ thing. Bakugou remembered activating his quirk (admittedly a little stronger than he'd intended). And Bakugou remembered — no. Punched that train of thought right back where it'd come from, then blinked rapidly to clear his head. No way in  _hell_  he'd seen that. Grabbed a handful of water and splashed it in his face. Salt stung his eyes, but at least it helped him regain focus. Right. Had to figure out where he was first, and how he got here. Then beat the shit out of the one responsible.

"Eh, is that — Bakugou-kun? Bakugou-kun!"

He shot straight up, eyebrow twitching in irritation. Last he needed now was to look like a fucking wimp in front of his idiot classmates. Speaking off, was that — "Huuuuuh? Uraraka?" Why the hell was she here? And running? But as soon as he spotted her, fumbling through the shallow water with oversized weight over her shoulder and waving at him, he had to blink and look again. That couldn't be happening.

"Bakugou-kun!" she yelled again, adding something unintelligible along. He stared, utterly confused, as he recognized the baggage over her shoulder as, first, Kaminari, and second, weightless.  _The fuck?!_ He could only see one way this could go, and he didn't like it one bit. "Wait! Wait just a second—!"

"Catch!" That was all the warning he had, before she flung Kaminari right at him like a baseball ball.

Sweat stopped pouring down Bakugou's face, mild-panic attack subduing (although he'd never willingly admit he'd panicked,  _fuck no_ ) when he realized that, instead of falling, the unconscious idiot was floating half a meter or so above him. Then he spotted Uraraka's hands, and blanched. "Oi! OIIII! You pull that shit and I'll—!"

"Release!"

Kaminari dropped out of the air like a rock, toppling them both into the water. Bakugou spat out a mouthful, rising to his elbows — a little grateful that it was just about ankle deep. "I'll — I'll fucking kill you!" As if his school uniform hadn't suffered enough torture already! "Get the fuck off!" Pushed Kaminari's limp body off of him and got up, rage boiling, because Uraraka was going to  _pay for this shit_ — when the girl zoomed past him him like a tornado, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Run, Bakugou-kun! Run! Aaah, where is Tsuyu-chan when you need her?"

"What the flying fuck are you on about?!"

But one glance back, and then he saw it. An army of frogs, wider than Aizawa-sensei's desk, and about as tall as Bakugou himself. Ugly green, with — wait. Were those tiaras on their heads? Bakugou stared. Then the tail freak kicked one of the frogs right in the eye before doubling back and rushing to catch up with Uraraka.

"Hurry, Bakugou! They're fast and crazy strong, we gotta get away! At least until Kaminari and Hagakure-san wake up—!"

"Get away, you say?" Bakugou rose, bristling. Several explosions shook the air around his hands as he took a deep breath, held a fist out. And  _snarled_. "I'M FUCKING PISSED AS HELL! Run?! You run, you stupid shitheads! I'ma blast those fuckfrogs through seven hells and back! And then I'm coming for you,  _Uraraka!_  Don't think for a moment I'm letting you get away with pulling this crap!"

"Eep!"

"Wait, Bakugou—"

"Too late!" he yelled, cackling madly. "I'll break these damned frogs to pieces! Just watch it!" And then he leapt into the air, using the blasts to build momentum, before aiming them down at the oversized amphibians. "Have some of this, you dumb fucks!" Faster than the eye could follow, he rained a shower of explosions.

* * *

Coming to a stop with her arms and legs trembling from exhaustion, Uraraka stared at the scene, fighting to catch her breath. A rain of explosions, followed by unfiltered roars of the targets. Not quite pained, but certainly outraged. And Bakugou looked like he'd only barely started. "Whoa," she managed. "So… brutal." Then grabbed onto her knees for balance, as nausea washed over on her, but not even that was enough. Ojirou caught her before she fell.

"You okay?"

Uraraka smiled awkwardly. "Aw, sorry. I think I overdid it a little…"

"It's fine, use this chance to rest. Bakugou is nothing if not tenacious…" but she followed his gaze full of concern, towards where the monsters were obscured in a dark cloud of smoke. Took note of the serious look on his face.

"You don't think it's going to be enough, do you, Ojirou-kun?" she asked.

His jaw tense, the martial artist nodded. "It's just a feeling. I don't know what happened, but I don't think Kaminari would go down without a fight. For him and Hagakure-san to be in this state…"

He didn't finish. He didn't have to. Uraraka glanced towards Kaminari's unconscious form, without any sign of injury. But he hadn't responded when she'd called out to him, and he hadn't responded to Ojirou either, no matter what method they'd used. Same with Tooru-chan. Then the huge frogs had come after them and Ojirou-kun grabbed Hagakure and ran for it, and Uraraka had done the same for Kaminari. They'd tried to fight, from time to time, but no kick worked and even Uraraka flinging a rock size of her bed only barely slowed the giant frogs down. And if Ojirou-kun was right, and both Kaminari and Hagakure ended up in this state because of the frogs—

_Don't think about it! Bakugou-kun is strong! They got Kaminari-kun and Hagakure-chan by pure dumb luck! That's it! But they won't do it to Bakugou-kun!_

She had to believe that.

Bakugou dropped back down, breathing heavily. Took a second too long before standing back up straight. But given he wasn't glaring at her yet, Uraraka had a feeling this was far from over. He was just waiting for the smoke to clear before—

A whip came flying out, faster than the eye could follow. Ojirou jumped back, only narrowly escaping it. Uraraka would've been caught, if he hadn't pulled her too. And Bakugou—

"Bakugou-kun!" she screamed.

He blasted himself up, escaping the whip at the last possible second — which, now that the smoke cleared, Uraraka actually recognized as a  _tongue_.  _So wait, are they like Tsuyu-chan?_ Decided to think about that later. Bakugou was glaring at her like he wasn't sure if he wanted to blast the frogs first — or her.

"What the hell are you getting all worked up about?!" he yelled, suddenly, and a part of her admitted that okay, maybe she had been underestimating him a little. He didn't have  _that_  bad priority assortment. But none of the frogs looked like they'd even had a scorch-mark after that rain of explosions, and if anything, they seemed to have gotten even angrier compared to how they'd been when it had been just her and Ojirou-kun running.

"This is bad! Bakugou, get back! We don't have a chance!" Ojirou yelled, alarmed.

"Don't you tell me what to do! Said I'd blast these things to seven hells, that's exactly what I'm gonna do! Watch me!  _Stun Grenade!_ "

Uraraka flinched at the roar that followed, courtesy of the giant frog flying back towards its peers. Couldn't help but feel a little sympathy for the poor thing. Wished she could say they didn't deserve it, but they did try munching on Kaminari's foot, so letting Bakugou at them was probably fair game. After all, before Uraraka had gotten her gripes on the situation, Kaminari had almost lost his foot and —  _eh, wait. Kaminari-kun?_

She turned then, fast enough to break her neck.  _Awake! He's awake!_

_He's right in the line of attack!_

"Kaminari-kun, duck!"

His head whipped towards her, and then, either understanding the danger or doing it purely by instinct, he dived down. Just as another tongue whipped right above his head. He shot right back up, wide eyes looking around him. "Whoa, what the hell?!"

By then, Uraraka was already running, shadow of a plan forming in her mind. "Kaminari-kun! How are you feeling?!"

"Feeling?!" he shouted back, wide eyes following where the tongue had disappeared, and Bakugou was blasting off another frog. "I'm fine! What the heck is going on here?!"

"Good! Listen to me! I have an idea, and I need your help! It's a gamble, but it's the only way we can get through this! I think! Can you use your Quirk?!"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be—?"

"Do it on the count of three! One!"

"Whoa, Uraraka, what in the—" but she sped past him, bracing herself. She'd worked hard for this! And maybe she was tired already, and a little nauseous, but she couldn't afford to give up, not now. If they had any chance of making it through this, they needed to put those frog monsters down for good!  _Isn't that right, Deku-kun?_

"Wait!" Ojirou yelled, still staring at the spot where she'd tapped him less than a moment ago.

"I won't! This is the best chance we have! Two!" She was closer now. To both Bakugou and the frogs — and a part of her really wished these frogs were more like Tsuyu, less like anime monsters, but now wasn't the time to get distracted. She wasn't close enough, not yet. She had to jump further and faster, otherwise this would never work.

"Agh, damn it, this better be worth it!" Kaminari yelled.

"It will, trust me! Bakugou-kun!"

He heard her! He wasn't turning to her, he wasn't helping with her plan, he was too stubborn to do that, of course he would be. She should've guessed from the start. But she wouldn't let that deter her, not now. She jumped then, with all the strength she had, slamming both her hands right on his shoulders. "Three! Kaminari-kun,  _NOW_!"

And the world exploded in yellow.

Floating several feet in the air, fighting the overwhelming wave of nausea, Uraraka watched the electric currents spread at a crazy fast rate, encompassing entirety of the wide cavern within moments. Somewhere above her, Bakugou was shouting obscenities of the like that would have her father rinsing his mouth with soap, but otherwise not struggling. Further away, Ojirou's eyes were as wide as saucers as he hung several meters in the air, while making sure Hagakure was still safely positioned on his tail.

Then it stopped, and all of the frogs collapsed at the same moment, out cold. Followed by everyone else, as Uraraka's Quirk gave out.

"So-sorry," Kaminari winced, as the only one still standing, as if the whole ordeal did nothing whatsoever to tire him out. "I… er… sorry. Water all around, I thought I'd just use a small attack. Didn't think it would turn out… quite like this."

Fighting to keep the contents of her stomach in, Uraraka gave him a thumbs up. "Good job" she choked. Then blacked out.

* * *

As it turned out, the ogre monsters weren't exactly weak to water, much to Midoriya and Kirishima's frustration. If anything, it only seemed to annoy the disfigured creatures even more than the two young heroes-in-the-making had. Which, to be fair, had a poor influence on their odds of getting out of the situation unscathed.

"Okay, so! Water didn't work, giant rocks didn't work, and they're tracking us either by the noise we're making or our scents!" Kirishima summed up, as they hopped over to another rock. "Further, they're moving faster than Todoroki on ice and we're only avoiding them by caving in the ceiling and — holy  _shit_ , is that a crossbow?! What is this, an MMO?!"

Midoriya almost wished it was. With MMOs, at least, you knew you  _could_  beat the monster, even if you didn't exactly know how right away. But aside from having high mobility, crazy strength and dangerous claws, the monsters were intelligent, capable of complex strategy and very determined to catch their prey. By which he meant Kirishima and himself. Moreover, with all of that and some common sense kicking back in, he had more than enough reason to believe that most of this was nothing short of  _real_  and  _definitely happening_  and  _holy shit that arrow almost caught me right there—!_

"We need a plan, some kind of a plan, to get away, if not win—"

"Oi, Midoriya, want to risk it with the caves again?" Kirishima yelled, breaking him out of the train of thought. Following the gesture, Midoriya spotted the smaller passage, leading away from the area they were in. To get to it, they'd need to risk going back in the water, and hell if they hadn't stumbled more than once in the rush. The rocks at the bottom were a good, strong, and surprisingly not a slippery footing, but Midoriya lost the count of all the times they'd lost momentum because they couldn't determine the depth. Still, the cave Kirishima was pointing at was just tall enough that, if they caved it in, the crazy ogres wouldn't have a way to follow.

"But if we do that, then how will we find Tsuyu-chan and Jirou-san again? We have no idea where they went! And what if there are others here, and we leave them with those monsters?"

"I don't know, man, we'll just have to risk it! We gotta believe in them! The girls are strong enough, okay?! Plus, at this rate one of those claws will get us, and then what do we do?!"

Point, right there. By now Midoriya had lost count of how many close calls they'd had. Plus, he was beginning to feel the strain. Given the damage to his arms, the amount of power he could use was even more limited than it had been before. Especially considering he didn't even have his costume here. If he tried to get another hit in before getting some rest… He didn't really want to know what might happen.

_Tsuyu-chan… Jirou-san… please be okay._

Then, he nodded. "Fine. Let's do it."

Kirishima almost missed his step. "EH? Really? I mean, I know I suggested it, but it's the last-ditch, hope-it-works-or-we're-totally-out-of-options idea. For all we know it could be a dead-end and then  _we're_ toast. Are you sure about this?"

"If it were just one of them, or maybe two, then fighting at close quarters, we'd win for sure. But with so many of them, we don't stand a chance anyway. And aside from Jirou-san and Tsuyu-chan, we still don't know where everyone is. You're right, it's a risk. And probably the last thing we didn't try… but right now I can't think of anything else."

Kirishima winced. "Yea. Well, we can just cave it after we find a way out. Here goes nothing!" he yelled. And jumped straight into the water. Midoriya froze, when he didn't immediately come out, but a moment later, the familiar bright red came in sight, and relief flooded him. Those few seconds had almost given him a heart attack!

Kirishima moved the hair out of his face, grinning. "Wheew! Cold! But it's pretty deep here. We can swim!"

"Right!" Midoriya yelled, then followed. Swam out after a few seconds, glancing towards the gathering crowd of monsters, and their seeming confusion over what to do now. It would only last a few seconds, before those with the ancient crossbows returned to the forefront. And then, the 1-A boys would be back to running. Or, swimming, in this case. "Let's go. Before they figure out what we're up to. They're not communicating out loud, but obviously they're doing it some other way."

Kirishima glanced back towards the gathering monsters, then nodded, a little absent minded. "Yeah."

The cave they entered, as it turned out, was much, much smaller, and about as wide as a smaller school corridor. Not quite as tall. But it was much brighter compared to the previous cavern. And the water several times colder. Swimming was all Midoriya could do to keep his limbs from trembling.

"Say," Kirishima started, "I've been thinking about this, but d'you think the water is the source of light, here? It's somehow all glossy and stuff. Kind of like glitter, maybe?"

Midoriya glanced at the surface, thoughtful. "Well… that's not how I'd call it, but you're not wrong," he mumbled. "It's just… it's really clean. I've never seen water this clean before."

"Yeah. But it tastes like shit. Even ocean water is better than this."

Midoriya chuckled awkwardly. Glanced back towards the entrance, where the ogre-like monsters hadn't dared to follow. Yet. He had a sinking suspicion they were swimming right into a trap, and the monsters were somehow aware of it.

"You know," Midoriya began, suddenly, "at first I thought this might be some secret test of character and all that… Remember, Aizawa-sensei said he's still upset over… over what happened in Kamino… so I thought maybe he'd try to catch us off-guard. Prepare us for the provisional licence exam…" he trailed off, pointedly looking anywhere but at Kirishima. Then, his voice picked up again, a little stronger, "It's just, the nature of it… it's not the same. How do I explain it? It doesn't  _feel_  like a test. These monsters… I feel like they're really trying to kill us. The intent… is just that real."

"Intent, huh…" Kirishima pondered, for a moment looking about as lost as Midoriya felt.

Silence reigned for a few moments, before Midoriya got the gripes on what he'd been wanting to say in the first place. Even if the very thought terrified him more than anything else right now. "Say, Kirishima… what… What if it was the League of Villains that somehow sent us here?"

"HUH?!"

"Think about it! I mean, no, even when I was falling here, it wasn't the same like being caught in that warp gate back in USJ, but is there anyone else who would have an interest to scatter us all over a dangerous place? Which raises a question of how they got into the school in the first place? More importantly, why? Since the beginning, they've been avoiding the school grounds, it can't be just because they were worried about All Might. Or did All Might retiring encourage them to try and come even with all the teachers present? And in that case, why  _us_? Why would they come for us, specifically? And how would they do it without being noticed—"

"Oi, oi, slow down, man," Kirishima cut him off, a little of the color draining from his face. "I mean, I get you're worried… I am too. Yeah! I have an idea! How about we call the others, see if they have a better idea what's going on Gimme a sec." He shuffled around for a few moments, before pulling out a phone. "Ah, there! Still working, too! Awesome! They really weren't kidding when they called this thing waterproof."

"Crap! I totally forgot!" Midoriya winced. Stuffed his hand into his pocket until he found the phone, but he already knew what would happen when he did. "Busted… Mom's gonna be so upset! And I promised I'd respond in time, too…"

Kirishima shrugged awkwardly. "Well, not like you could help it. Phones are some weird stuff, it might even work after it dries off. You never know. And damn it, no range. Should've figured, since it's a cave and all."

"Yeah," Midoriya mumbled, not too convinced. With his luck, he'd crush the phone by accident before ever giving it a chance to dry. "Anyway, let's figure out what we're going to do about that."

Kirishima turned, back towards the entrance where the first of the ogre monsters had begun to glide into the cave, picking up speed as they went. "Oh. Oh, I am so not looking forward to that again."


	3. Kaminari Makes the Mistake of His Life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jirou does some property damage, Bakugou has more influence on Kirishima than anyone previously thought and there's something up with everyone who's been asleep at any point in time... sort of.

Jirou Kyouka certainly remembered waking up in better places. Places like her room back home or the new dorms. Not dark and rocky  _caves_. Rubbing her eyes to make sure it wasn't just her,  _maybe_ , if very unlikely, lucid dreaming, she found herself staring at Asui Tsuyu. Asui, who looked the same as she normally did. Asui, who didn’t seem to mind their surroundings one bit. Asui, who looked only mildly concerned with the fact that Kouda was sleeping on top of another rock, curled into something vaguely resembling a fluff ball; except no fur, and definitely a little edgy.

Jirou blinked.

"Uh, I feel a little weird for asking this, but am I dreaming?" she said.

"No," Asui said. Exactly what she'd expect a classmate in her lucid dream to say.

Jirou decided to play along for the time being, anyway. Ultimately, she'd either save herself needless panicking or she'd turn out to be  _right_ , either of those options ultimately better than questioning why all the weird stuff needed to happen on the school grounds.

“Right… so.” Jirou swallowed thickly. "Why is Kouda on top of the... is that a stalactite or a stalagmite? I always mix those two. Shouldn't we get him down from there? It'd be a painful place to roll down from."

"I... I'd honestly feel a little bad if I were to wake him up. He looks so peaceful up there," Asui admitted, finger flying to her chin. Jirou followed her gaze and found herself unintentionally agreeing. Kouda did look very calm up there. And he was certainly better off sleeping than waking up in a weird place, so maybe letting him sleep it off was not a bad idea.

Jirou glanced back around the cavern that could probably fit her entire house and then some. Creepy passages left and right added to some of the video game appeal the place seemed to have. "So, where are we? You probably don't know that either?"

Asui shrugged.

"Right." Jirou pushed herself up to stand. Part of her was grateful Kouda was asleep. Her whole uniform was dripping wet, and it was a little embarrassing that her entire shirt was so blatantly see-through. "Alright, so first thing's first, let's get out of here and get somewhere where my phone..." Jirou winced at the black, dead screen on her device, and remembered her skirt was just as soaked as her shirt. If not worse.  _Crap._  "Never mind. Water got him. Is yours working?"

"No range," Asui said.

"Aaargh. Think, Kyouka, think. I mean, this is a cave right? The water is... well not making a lot of noise, but this  _is_ a cave. I could still probably find a way out with my Quirk. Gimme a sec...."

"Wait, Kyouka-chan."

Jirou froze, one of the jacks millimeters away from breaking into the rock. "Huh?"

"If you can use your Quirk to find a way out, could you also use it to find Midoriya and Kirishima?"

"Wait, they're here too?" At Asui's nod, she gulped. "Gotcha. I’ll just—" Words got stuck in her throat as a cluster of sounds assaulted her almost immediately the end of her jacks touched the wall. A little like screams and croaks, quiet and in a distance, but at a frequency that made it feel like somebody was screaming bloody murder right in her ears. Even Mic-sensei during the end-term exams had been nothing but medium high volume compared to this. 

Tears clogged Jirou's vision, sliding along her cheeks, but she was powerless to move, or stop listening, let alone do anything to counter the force threatening to tear her brain apart.

Then it all stopped, as sudden as it came, and Jirou collapsed on all fours, sweat mixed with trickles of blood dripping along the side of her face as she tried to get her breathing under control.

Asui stood with her earphone jack in hand, face ashen. "Kyouka-chan? Are you okay?"

Still sweating, Jirou shook her head. "I-I'm... alright. Now." Though it'd take time for the ringing in her ears to stop. Oh, this was definitely not lucid dreaming, that she could be sure of. Breathing ragged, she climbed back up on her feet, wiping the blood from her ears. "They— it's coming."

Asui turned in the direction Jirou was looking at, but Jirou quickly shook her head. "No, not after us. Close. But not here. Asui, what  _are_ those things? The sounds they made, they were all  _wrong_. And if I'm right, I thought I heard Midoriya, too, they're somewhere close..." She jumped into the water, more than a little grateful it was shallow, pressing a finger against the cold stone. Then she trailed along the line, until the spot felt about right. "Here. Somewhere behind here."

"Well, that's bad," Asui said. "They were... well, first I thought it might've been some sort of a Quirk, but there were too many of them and all identical. They looked sort of like monsters. And you say they're after Midoriya and Kirishima?" 

Jirou nodded.

Asui's face hardened. "Do you think we can find our way around this place? Splitting up here would be unwise. Especially when they're in danger."

"We won't have to," Jirou said, scowling at the layers upon layers of hard surface. Pressed her palm against it, and inhaled. "Think you can get Kouda down here? It'd be better if you guys stand back for a bit."

"What? Kyouka-chan, what are you going to do?"

Jirou's lips stretched into a thin, but hard smile. "Worry not. I'm blasting right through."

* * *

Kirishima cursed as another one of their plans went up un the air. Literally. 

Beside him, Midoriya blinked. "Are you channeling Kacchan?" 

"Ah, sorry. This is just... furstrating."

Though that one really had to be putting it lightly.

Namely, their plan had been, on all accounts, pretty simple. Thus, according to all expectations, it  _should have worked._  Because no matter how strong, there was a limit to how many punches a big, scary ogre could tank and remain on his feet. Especially with Midoriya. Midoriya packed quite a punch, and Kirishima didn't consider himself to be slouch in that department, either. They'd clock a fist in the disfigured face hard enough to knock the thing out and run for it. But the ogres were either reading their minds or very much listening in on their (admittedly loud) plans. Worse, they were fast jumpers. Midoriya's initial punch had caught one of the small fry ogres on the side instead of the big boss, and things only went downhill from there.

Or well - up. Because Midoriya had explicitly gotten thrown all the way on the other side of the cave. 

Kirishima hadn't been that lucky. One of the smaller monsters, maybe even kid-monsters, and boy that was a scary thought, tried to chomp off his arm. The small thing failed, naturally, because when Kirishima's skin got hard, it got  _hard_ , and the dumb muscle would've been better off biting the rock instead. Something he undoubtedly would be doing, soon enough. Until then, Kirishima a least got the satisfaction of breaking some of the giant monster's teeth. Would've been happy about it, too, if not for all the ugly leftover slime trickling along his hardened skin and effectively burning through his sleeve.

He wasn't sure how he'd managed to join back with Midoriya. It was probably more luck than anything he'd consciously done. 

"It's the eyes," Midoriya said, suddenly. 

Kirishima glanced back dubiously. "Eyes? Wait, they have super strength, super speed, hella giant clubs and crazy acidic spit, and I'm one hundred percent sure I saw at least two crossbows, and now you're saying their eyes are special  _too_?"

"Crossbows?" Midoriya blanched. "Ah, no wait! I mean, that's not what I wanted to - remember how that water attack failed? And that small one I punched into the water? When it fell, it was shielding it  _eyes_."

Kirishima glanced back towards the mob, currently busy rearranging their formation, and opening and closing their ugly mouth at them without letting out a sound. Turned right back, ignoring a drop of sweat running along the side of his face. "Aw man, I wish I'd remembered to bring a squirt gun!"

"What I mean to say," Midoriya continued, "is that if we can trick them, even for a moment – and then get this weird water into their eyes–"

"We could win this," Kirishima surmised. Glanced back one more time. "Except, you know. I'd say they'd be watching out for that now. Since we screwed it up the first time."

"Yeah. But we weren't  _aiming_." There was something of a manic smile of Midoriya's face now. The one he always got, whenever he was about to dish out some crazy idea like the one that had almost cost them their lives back in Kamino. Kirishima wondered if he should be bracing himself yet. "If only I had a stable footing..."

"Huh." Kirishima's lips stretched into a grin. "Well, that's not gonna be too complicated. Wanna do it now?"

"Yes!"

Boys fell into a stance, ready to give it their all for their last and final idea on how to get the upper hand. Kirishima activated his Quirk, ready to serve as a jumping board of sorts, as Midoriya worked things out in his head--

Then the rocks shattered, dust and pieces raining over boys and the equally startled ogre-monsters, creating an essential barricade between them.

"Kirishima!" Midoriya cried in protest.

"It wasn't me!"

"No, I know that, but..."

Kirishima's eyes widened "Jirou!?!"

She stood there where a wall had been less than a moment ago, her shirt covered in dust, and face an unhealthy shade of white with blood dripping down the sides of her face. But her eyes burned with searing hot determination, a startling contrast to the way she usually held herself. 

"Midoriya, Kirishima, stand back! I'll handle this!"

"Handle?!?" Kirishima yelled. "How the heck--"

Midoriya pulled him back just as Jirou slammed her earphone jacks into what was left of the wall. "Heartbeat Fuzz!"

The soundwave, considering the amount of warning they'd received, and what they knew for a fact Jirou could do, had been pathetic. But the monster ogres grimaced and looked like whatever Jirou was doing was doing them more damage than anything Midoriya and Kirishima had thrown at them from the very beginning. Jirou kept at it, until one by one, they began to retreat. She stopped once all of them dispersed on the other side of the caves, tears rolling down her cheeks and breathing ragged, until her knees buckled. 

"Whoa there!" Kirishima caught her before she hit the ground. "Jirou? Oi, what's wrong? Jirou?"

"I'm fine," she murmured, clearly trying to sound that way. "Their frequencies are weird and I can't counterbalance it well so the recoil is..." she shook her head, prying out of the hold and managing to stand back on her own. "I sent them scrying for a bit, but they'll be back. They don't like us because they think we're from beyond the caves... so to get them to leave us alone, we just have to get out, in some open air space or something like that. They don't like the sun much."

"Oh," Kirishima said, smartly. "So um, how do we do that?"

"Kouda may have a solution for that, " Tsuyu said, popping out from behind a mass of rocks, their rocky classmate following.

Midoriya's shoulders sagged in relief. "Ah, I'm so glad to see you're okay. And Kouda is here, too, huh? What about the others?"

Jirou was the one to shake her head first. "Sorry, I didn't hear anything. Some could still be here. But I can tell you for sure they're not anywhere close."

"Right," Kirishima sighed. "We didn't find anyone else along the way, either. So we should probably use the chance and get out of here now."

"Agreed," Tsuyu said. "Kouda-kun?"

The boy nodded rapidly, cheeks flushing softly. Then he stepped a little closer, holding both his hands out, revealing what he'd been hiding under his fingers.

"Whoa, so weird!" Kirishima yelled.

"What is it?" Midoriya asked. "It looks like a badger, but..." 

Kouda shook his head, following it with several rushed hand movements. Then he gestured back towards the area where Jirou had broken through the wall. 

"Ah, so that's our way out?" Kirishima asked. "Awesome. Thanks, little badger. Think I can pet him?"

Kouda looked mildly panicked, but then, slowly, held the creature out. Grinning, Kirishima brushed his fingers along the soft fur and scratched between its tiny ears. Stiffened, when Jirou almost collapsed beside him again. She straightened back a moment later, but she her face still had a sheen of sweat covering her skin. "Hey, you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. Let's... let's just go. I don't like this place."

Kirishima and Midoriya nodded along. "Same."

* * *

"You know, taking this completely rationally, what if we just collectively got teleported into some sort of a crazy RPG with monsters and mages thanks to some crazy dimensional magic and stuff? I mean, frogs don't wear tiaras. Which makes those tairas  _loot_. See what I'm getting at?" Kaminari asked idly, as they walked past another lonely tree that might as well had been a wrinkly old giant grandpa. With spread out branches and leaves a dark green only shade lighter than black, the whole thing looked creepy. And it had hardly been the first one.

Uraraka mused thoughtfully, nodding along while he talked, but not saying much else. She still felt a little sick occasionally, so Kaminari figured it wouldn't be quite fair to edge her on. Others were fair game, though. Except, Ojirou was mostly ignoring him and Bakugou was just glaring around pretending they weren't walking all together, as he really should've expected.

"Hmm, but what if it was just that? A tiara?" Hagakure said. "You know, it's kind of like clickbait, except picking it up here makes you a target of another swarm of frogs." 

"Eeeeeeh." Hands in his pockets, Kaminari shrugged and glanced at a mess of empty Yuuei uniform hanging onto Ojirou's shoulders. Back when she'd woken up, she'd insisted she'd still been feeling a little dizzy and, Ojirou being Ojirou, he didn't think twice about carrying her around, and continuing to do so until she convinced him she was absolutely fine. Something Hagakure had yet to try. Kaminari suspected she was just enjoying the piggy-back. Had to be a lot more comfortable when it was on a tail, of all things. Ojirou, the lucky bastard.

"Wouldn't that be kind of counterproductive, though?" the Tailman asked. "I mean, you're supposed to reward the players for doing something? Give them hints where to go next? We were in the dark from the beginning. Some hints ought to have been left behind."

"Um, I don't think this place runs on video game logic," Uraraka mumbled.

"No shit, Sherlock," Bakugou hissed, especially nasty. Uraraka winced, then smiled awkwardly to hide it away. Not that Bakugou was looking anywhere in her direction.

Kaminari had that funny feeling he was still pissed over the fact he didn't get to pull off the finishing move during the frog quest. Which, admittedly, he couldn't blame him for. Not even Kaminari excepted his attack would get  _that_  amplified. People did always say water and electricity don't mix, but that had been unreal. And awesome as hell.

Now if only Bakugou would stop pouting about it... er.

"Um, guys," Hagakure said suddenly, voice a little faint. "What is that over there?"

"Huh? What?" Uraraka said.

Kaminari felt it before he saw it. A little like a magnetic field, it looked more like a swirl of purple smoke, or maybe something that should've been emulating soft purple flame. Except falling short of good animation and looking more like somebody had released a contained smoke grenade. Giant sculpted stone hands kept the smoke from dispersing, creating an illusion of a spiraling vortex that seemed to be calling them in. Kaminari shook his head, blinking rapidly, but the image remained the same.

"Is this some kind of a portal?" he asked.

Ojirou gulped. "Wait, Kaminari! I wouldn't get close to it–"

"Ah, I don't..."  _w_ _ant to get close_. Except, he sort of did. There was something inviting about that thing. A little captivating, but it really made him merely curious about  _what_  it was, rather than giving him the obsessive need to push his hand into it, like he'd expect from swirly smoke in... any fictional reality, really. Sure, maybe it was a dumb idea, but all the butterflies flying into it certainly didn't seem to suffer any consequences for it, seemingly equal amount of them flying in and out, none the worse for wear.

Except, usually, butterflies didn't glow in yellow color and they tended to be a little smaller. But Kaminari was more than willing to file that under weird otherworld animal species. After giant frogs, he'd rather be dealing with sparkling golden butterflies. Especially those that seemed to think his shoulder was a perfectly nice place to gather on. 

"I don't know, but I kind of want to touch it," Hagakure breathed.

"I know, right?" Kaminari grinned.

"Oi, are you fucking dumb?" Bakugou snapped.

"Um, guys!" Uraraka jumped out in front of him, eyes open wide, ignoring his explosive protests. Kaminari followed her gaze towards what looked like only a tiny speck, rapidly increasing in size. "Am I just seeing things or is that a–?"

"TIGER!" Kaminari screamed. "What the hell? First giant frogs, then tigers, what is this place?!"

"Maybe he's nice, though?" Hagakure suggested.

Kaminari wondered about that for a few seconds. The seconds that took him to realize that the tiger, in fact, was about twice the size of a normal tiger, with white fur and teeth twice as long as his forearm. And there were several more popping up behind him. Then, he blanched.

"I say we better try our luck with the portal," he choked out. Uraraka nodded urgently.

"Scared of a kitty cat, huh?" Bakugou hissed, small explosion going off in his palm. "Fucking cowards."

"Um... Uraraka?" Kaminari called. Received a confused tilt of head, until he pointed a finger towards unsuspecting Bakugou. Then a tense smile emerged on her face and she held out a thumbs up. 

Ojirou winced. "I don't think this is a good idea." 

Kaminari shrugged, as if to ask,  _do you want to see him fight a bunch of oversized sabretooth tigers?_  To which he suspected not even Ojirou would be able to come up with a satisfying answer. 

"But what if it's not a portal?" 

"It is," Hagakure said with conviction. Then coughed. "Um... I get the feeling, anyway. Better than tigers, no?"

Bakugou's curses cut their discussion short a moment later, as Uraraka executed her part of the plan with stunning precision.

Kaminari shrugged at Ojirou. "You coming?" 

Pointless question, he realized a moment later, when Uraraka zoomed past him, pulling the still yelling Bakugou by the collar and heading straight for the swirly mass of purple smoke. Kaminari followed a moment later, narrowly avoiding one of Bakugou's irritated blasts. He winced. Yea, that trick was  _so_ not going to work a third time.

"This is a bad idea!" Ojirou shouted, but with Hagakure cheering on his back, he and Kaminari dived into the smoke. And then it all turned black.

* * *

Uraraka coughed out a mouthful of sand, rubbing her eyes clean. For a moment, everything had been black, and then they'd been spinning, almost like on a crazy fast roller-coaster, until it unceremoniously dumped them on what looked like some sort of a beach.

Somewhere behind her, she could hear Bakugou's muffled cries of anger, and she had a feeling apologizing for using her Quirk on him without permission, again, wasn't going to get her far this time around. Even last time, it had taken about twenty apologies to get him to look at her and say "Shut the fuck up". This time, she'd really done it.  _Whoops._

Lifting her head up, she glanced at the soft waves brushing against the coast. On her right, there was a sea. Wide and blue and beautiful, sparkling in what looked like orange rays of the setting sun. And on her left...

Uraraka rubbed her eyes again, just in case. But the form standing in front of them looked much the same. A woman, as tall as a four-story building with blue skin and large eyes, sparkling in blue color. But what should've been the whites of her eyes were instead black, like Mina's, and what clothes she did seem to wear barely covered anything. In fact, the only thing saving the modesty were the jewels that were practically everywhere, reflecting the sunlight so strong that it was almost blinding. Strands of softly curling hair seemed to float around her, the longest of which reached as far down as her ankles. Or at least, where her ankles should've been. Instead of regular feet, there were fins growing from the ankle up, razor sharp.

Uraraka realized quickly she wasn't the only one staring. Kaminari's jaw had yet to lift off from the sandy ground, even if he was sitting now. Ojirou looked like he'd been forced to swallow a mouthful of sand, and even Bakugou had stopped yelling.

The giant blue woman narrowed her eyes and crossed her large,  _clawed_  arms at her chest, and suddenly her eyes didn't look much like Mina's anymore. They were much more menacing and hateful and Uraraka had a feeling that if the woman could, she would've turned them into specks of dirt. Or minced meat. Though given that scowl, she was probably trying to figure out what way of slicing them would be more painful.

The blue lady opened her mouth then, revealing a set of sharp teeth, and  _screeched_.

The sound reverberated all the way to Uraraka's bones. Stunning and painful. It stopped after a few seconds, but it might as well had lasted for days. Uraraka found herself only barely regaining her breath. "Is – is everyone alright? Bakguou? Kaminari?!"

"Yeah," Bakugou grunted, though he seemed to have trouble standing up on his feet.

One look confirmed he wasn't the only one. Ojirou seemed a little shaken, but otherwise uninjured. Kaminari and Hagakure, however... 

"Oi," Bakugou growled suddenly, staring up at the unmoving mass of blue with burning hatred. "What the hell is wrong with them?"

Uraraka's hands shot up to hide her growing horror, as Kaminari fell forward. Eyes closed, she could swear she'd seen blood in them, but she dearly hoped she was wrong.

Bakugou twitched. "Talk, you ugly giant! What the hell did you do to them!?" 

Still size of a building, the blue lady descended upon him, long hair whipping around her dangerously. "My dungeon has yet to be summoned. You have no business being here, you filthy transplants. Thus, purging you is the first thing I must do! BEGONE, FILTHY HUMANS!"

Uraraka blinked once, before the overwhelming need for sleep overcame her once again.

* * *

Yaoyorozu brushed the dirt and dry blood off the side of Shouji's face, brows scrunching in worry. She licked her dry lips, to no effect whatsoever, then applied gauze to the still bleeding head-wound on her unconscious classmate's forehead. "We can't go on like this," she said. "Sero, what is Todoroki-kun and Tokoyami-kun's condition?"

"No change. Yaomomo, are you sure this is a good idea?"

Teeth tore into the side of her cheek, and Yaoyorozu would've loved if she could've just said, "No, call it off." But the situation had quickly taken the turn for the worse, as if Todoroki and Tokoyami's lack of consciousness for several hours now hadn't been enough. No, of course not. 

Yaoyorozu and Mina had been working out the next best plan of action on how they were going to get some food, when it happened. Satou burst out of the forest, beaten into a bloody pulp, but still dragging unconscious Shouji with the last bits of strength he could muster. Helping them had been the least Yaoyorozu could do. And the same counted for now, too.

Satou grabbed her wrist, then, left eye still half-closed under the bruised skin. "You... gotta... do it... Yao... yorozu... you have to..."

Yaoyorozu bit her cheek harder, fighting the wave of nausea. With three unconscious classmates, and only two in any state to so much as move, there was very little she  _could_ do. 

Satou gripped her wrist harder. 

"You.... must... save them... save them, Yaoyorozu... save Aizawa and All Might...  _save them_!"

Grip slackened, his fingers slid along, as Satou slowly slid into blissful unconsciousness himself. Yaoyorozu cleaned the blood from his face, gently, fully aware of the looks both Sero and Mina were giving her. She focused back on Satou's bloodied face. Then she blinked the tears away, and forced herself to stand back up.

Mina and Sero gasped.

"We'll do it," she said. "Remember carefully what Satou said. If we do nothing now, then... then..." She clenched her fists. "We will  _not_  let those  _things_  harm Aizawa-sensei or All Might-sensei. Absolutely  _not_. Are you with me?"

"Yeah!"

"Then, that's what it is. We'll take the last option we have left," Yaoyorozu said. "We'll fight."


End file.
